What is striking is the reluctance of both right and left to be forthright. Everyone seems to whitewash, greenwash and spin actual numbers.
In business, I ask five general questions:
What do you want to do?
How do you want to do it?
What are the time and money costs?
What are the expected returns?
How certain/uncertain are the answers to the above questions?
Sometimes I wonder if I should just assume everyone talking on this subject is a bullshit artist with an agenda or, in the words of Tears For Fears "Everybody Wants to Rule the World"
Here's the Seattle Times story
Oh Great. edit 7:07 am
1100 miles down the coast, SignOn San Diego is reporting numbers ten times larger.
"Buying enough carbon permits to operate between 2011, when the program would begin, to 2022, will cost more than 45 billion euros ($61 billion), the airlines said."
“Airline profits would be reduced by over 40 billion euros ($54 billion) over the period to 2022,” the report said. “The introduction of the EU emissions trading scheme will result in a reduction in consumer choice in terms of the range and frequency of air services.”
I'll keep heading south and report back if Panama City's version is a quadrillion.